


Marble Countertops and Dark Floors

by Call_Me_Tears



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, For the purposes of the story, Gay Male Character, Gun Violence, Guns, I made Joel Bi, M/M, Male Slash, Pre-Canon, male!reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-25 20:42:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16205297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Call_Me_Tears/pseuds/Call_Me_Tears
Summary: When surviving in the zombie apocalypse, sometimes humans are more deadly than the zombies themselves...Set approximately two months before the events of the game, the reader is a part of Joel and Tess' little gang. Set up in quarantine zone five, built in one of the outer townships of Boston Massachusetts, The reader has to juggle work and play, without getting caught, or caught up, in everything...





	Marble Countertops and Dark Floors

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place about two years before the start of the game, before Joel meets Ellie, before Tess dies, before all of that. This is something I wrote because I had an idea about how Joel was untrusting, and, a little hint for y'all, everything that happened in the game, happened the exact same way in this universe. The tags may give you another hint, so just be ready. ;) Also, I swear there's a reason for my weird ass title. I love you all, and thank you for reading this hella long story. I feel there's a severe lack of Male Reader stories in every fandom, and i want to change that. Even if it takes one story at a time. <3

“Alright [Y/N]. Tell us where the medical supplies are, and we’ll let you go…” You cringe at Greg’s stinking breath and turn away to try and get any semblance of fresh air. You hold your breath and shake your head. Greg leans in closer. “I’d advise ya to do it. If not…” He gets up and takes a .45 out of his jeans and points it at your companion who was passed out on the floor face down. “Joel gets a bullet to the brain. And we wouldn’t want that? Now would we.” 

“No! Please!” You cry out, but someone from behind clamps a hand over your mouth to keep you from screaming out. You just sob silently, your body shaking as your large tears roll down your cheeks, and stop at the guy’s massive hands. 

Greg holds a finger up to his lips and says, “Shh. Wouldn’t want to wake him, now would we?” He crouches down and presses the gun to Joel’s temple. “Want to make this as painless as possible. He could die in his sleep right 'ere, and he wouldn’t be none the wiser…” 

You struggle against your tight bonds, but the other hand, opposite to the one that’s clamped like a vice around your mouth, presses down on your shoulder, his strength keeping you in place. You go to leap at Greg.

And that’s when the shot rings out. 

 

**TEN MONTHS EARLIER**

 

You jolt awake from sleep, and look around you, taking in your surroundings. 

It was your apartment in quarantine block 5, or as you liked to call it, hell. It was plain, with a simple couch that was far beyond repair, some springs and wires lose, and all of it’s stuffing squished to hell. Your kitchen wasn't really a kitchen. There was no power to any of the appliances, but you did use the small, round kitchen table to eat from. A few packets from old rations were there, waiting to be repurposed into something else. Waste not want not, right? You also had a small bookshelf in your living room with no more than four books, the only ones you were able to grab from home before you left. They were your favorites. Wind in the Willows, A Wrinkle in Time, The Secret Garden, and of course, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You knew they were old children's books, but you grew up reading them and you couldn’t part with them. Especially not after your sister… 

The one thing you did notice that was out of place was the lack of Joel on the couch. Grabbing your gun and your backpack, you pack up your things and search for any sign of how long Joel had been gone for. The last raid you made with him took a lot out of you and you fell pretty badly during it. Nothing serious, just the wind knocked out of you, but Joel insisted you rest, and you take the mattress. “It’s better than the God damned couch…” he said. You must have been sleeping like the dead for him to leave without so much as waking you. 

You head to the front door and open it, but you barely get a single step out of the dingy apartment before your shoulders are grabbed and you’re being pushed back inside. You struggle for a moment, but realize it’s Joel and you stop. 

“Good, [Y/N], you’re awake. I need you to settle something for us,” Joel says. 

You look at him quizzically and ask, “Us?” 

Tess slams into the apartment and closes the door behind her, and Joel lets go of your shoulders, leaving you to just stand there in shock. 

“Oh good, you fuckin’ woke up [Y/N]!” Tess exclaims, and Joel points at her. 

“I did no such thing! He was awake when I got here!” Joel yells and Tess scoffs. 

“Yeah because of your stomping!” Tess shouts back. 

You stand in between them and yell, “Hey! Stop!” They immediately stop and look at you. “Tess, I was awake before he came in. I didn’t even know where you guys went!” 

Joel sighs and takes a step closer to you, saying, “[Y/N], please, I need you to settle something for us.” Tess scoffs, but you hold a hand up, allowing him to continue. “Tess here-” he jabs a finger at her, and she rolls her eyes, “Wants to go into Alabaster territory to get someone back!” 

“What?” You whirl around on her, and her eyes darken. 

“Yeah, I do! He’s he’s kinda fuckin’ important!” Tess shouts. 

“How fuckin’ important can he really be Tess?” You ask, and she sighs, putting her head in her hands. 

“He’s the one who gets me our guns.” 

Both you and Joel let that hang in the air for a moment, the realization that you might not get your guns if he’s dead. 

You sigh and walk over to the kitchen table, and sit down, leaning your head in your hands. “You know where he gets 'em from?” You ask, looking up at her with exasperation lining your voice. She nods hesitantly. “Then don’t fuckin’ think about goin’.” 

“Thank you!” Joel exclaims at the same time Tess says, “No fucking way!” 

Tess shouts at you, “He cuts me a deal! Instead of thirty ration cards for the lot of it, he only charges me fifteen. Fifteen! Instead of years worth, it’s only fifteen weeks, a pretty fucking good deal if you ask me!” 

You look over at Joel whose expression is set. His eyebrows twitch at the mention of ration cards, but his expression doesn’t change. “That’s Alabaster territory. Yer gonna get yourself killed goin’ in there! Yer gonna get us killed!” Joel motions to the two of you, but Tess doesn’t move. 

You shake your head. “I’m sorry Tess, we can’t go. I’m not stepping foot anywhere near them!” You exclaim. 

Tess thinks for a moment, and the air is silent around you. You could feel Joel’s anger radiating off him in waves, and you wished you could just make it all better. But nothing would be better. Not anymore. Not after the outbreak. 

“Then you won’t have to.” Tess turns to heal and bolts out the door. 

“Fucking shit. Tess!” You call out after her. You just hear the footsteps disappear down the hall. “Fucking Christ!” 

You grab your pack and sling it over your shoulder, adjusting your gun so it’s flat against your back, and no one can see it. 

“Where are you goin’?” Joel asks you as you rush to the door. 

“I’m gettin’ Tess. She’s gonna die out there if I don’t help her…” You say, and Joel waves his hand. 

“Fine.” 

You turn around fully to face him and cross your arms. “So what, you’re just gonna sit there?” 

“Sounds about right,” he says, laying against the back of the couch, his head upside-down to yours. He’s just looking at you with a smirk. “You gonna join me?” He makes a sweeping motion towards the rest of the couch. 

“Tess is gonna die out there if we don’t do somethin'! Now, you can sit back and not have a care in this fucked up world, but Tess is gonna die out there and I’m following. So either two of us die, or potentially none of us die, and I call that a win in my book!” You turn tail run out of the apartment buildings. As you break outside to the light, you slow your pace, still walking fast, but making sure it didn’t seem conspicuous. You hear the apartment door slam shut behind you, and you smirk as you hear Joel running up behind you. 

He falls in step with you and pants out, “For the record, I think this is a terrible idea…”

You nod. “Yer not the only one…” you mumble out. He puts a hand on your shoulder and you guide him to the town hall, a building that was once used to hold meetings every week, now used to get out of the quarantine. 

As soon as you’re in, you sprint down the hall towards the only exit you knew of. Bursting in, old Joe points to the large hole in the wall and says, “She ran in there.” 

“Thanks, Joe,” you say as you and Joel rush down the corridor and at the fork, go left instead of right. Usually, you’d go right, to get to the docks, but Alabaster country was left, and as much as you hated it, you went left. 

You see Tess walking down the straight path, and run to catch up with her. “Tess!” You call out. She turns around and grins at you both. 

“Perfect! Thanks for coming! Glad you could join me!” She exclaims, and you roll your eyes. 

Joel walks up and grabs her wrist tightly in his hand, and he says, “Cut the bullshit, Tess. Let’s just get out of here!” 

She tried to rip her arm free, but Joel doesn’t let go. “No! I have to find him!” 

You walk over to them and grab Joel’s hand, and look up at him pleadingly. His face softens, and he lets go. “Please, fightin’ won’t get us anywhere.” Tess holds her hand to her chest, and Joel runs a hand down his face. “Let’s just go in, see what we find, and if something goes wrong, we turn tail, and run, got it?” 

Joel sighs and walks forwards, mumbling something under his breath like, “And this is why you make all the plans.” 

You smile and go to follow, but Tess grabs your arm and holds you back. She leans in and whispers, “You’re the only one who can bring Texas down from where he’s at. He needs you. Don’t go dyin’ in there, alright?” She says, and you nod. 

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll try not to…” you say, and she nods, letting you go and walking towards where Joel went off to. 

You stand there for a moment and shake your head, clearing your thoughts of Joel, and focused on the mission ahead of you. 

It was only a little ways more of a walk, but soon you were at the bottom of the wall that would lead, most likely, to your death. 

“Come on, I’ll boost you up,” Joel says, and you move towards him, but Tess gets there first. 

“I’ll scout ahead, tell you what’s out there!” She exclaims, and Joel pushes her up. She climbs over text edge and vanishes out of sight. 

You move to follow, but Joel puts a hand on your shoulder. “Georgia, please, don’t die out there…” Joel pleads with you, and you smile, placing your hand over his. 

“I’ll be fine Texas. Don’t worry about me. I’m strong,” you say, and Joel sighs. 

“I know [Y/N], I’m just worried about you is all,” he says and you place your own hands on his shoulders. 

“I’ll be fine Joel, really.” 

Joel goes to speak, but the moment is interrupted by Tess coming back. “A’right, coast’s clear, let’s go.” 

Joel moves away from you and towards the wall, holding his hands out. Tess walks away from the edge and looks off at something in the distance, giving you the privacy you needed for one last look at Joel before he hoisted you up over the ledge. You reach down and pull him up, leaving the three of you standing there to figure out what to do next. 

“I say we go the long way 'round. Less guys, less clickers,” Joel says, and Tess shakes her head. 

“No. I say we go straight to it, see what’s there, plan accordingly. If you think it’s too much, we can leave, alright?” Jess says, looking at you. 

You shrug and say, “Alright, sounds like a plan.” 

Joel grabs your arm and says, “[Y/N], are you really sure you wanna do this? We can leave if you want to…” 

You shake your head and smile at Joel. “I’m fine. Let’s do this.” 

Joel nods, and lets go of your arm. And you pull your sleeves down, before grabbing the straps of your backpack. You rub the back of your hand over your brow and turn so you’re facing Jess. “Alright. Where to?” 

She grins and points you in the right direction, leading the charge. 

You and Joel follow silently, creeping along beside her, ducking behind whatever cover you could to stay hidden. You make your way closer and closer, before you meet your first set of guys. They were just standing there, talking. 

You share a glance with Joel, who nods, and you split off, darting behind things to conceal yourselves, and you slowly make you way up. Joel jumps out, and you follow, tackling the guy to the ground and suffocating him, crushing his hyoid. The guy stops struggling, and lays there, unmoving. 

“I’d say we make a pretty good team…” Joel says to you, and you smile and nod at him. 

“Alright, we got more guys up ahead, and it looks like there’s no getting out of a firefight. Get ready,” Tess says, and you take your 9mm out from your waist band, and hold it securely in your hands. 

You move forwards, looking out for anyone coming in front of you. Finally, you reach the gate. 

“How we gonna get through this son of a bitch?” You ask the other two. 

Joel looks around for a moment, and grabs your hand, dragging you over to a building. “Come on, if we go through here we can get out on the other side. Come on, I’ll boost you up.” 

You nod and put your foot in his hands, allowing him to push you up over the edge, and onto the ledge. He does the same for Tess, and you reach down, pulling him up. 

The second floor, the one you were on, was pretty easy. Not many guys, a few stragglers here and there, those who have snuck off to get a quick break.ost we're by themselves, but the few who were together, they we're pretty easy to take out. 

The first floor was the hardest, but that was where you found him. Alone in a side room, Tess ran up to him, checking his pulse, but from the amount of blood in the room, you knew what the outcome was already. 

“Tess, he’s dead, we need to go,” you say, but she doesn’t let go. 

“No, no, please, you can’t be dead!” She screams, and Joel immediately looks at you. 

“Tess we gotta go, there are more guys coming!” Joel shouts to her. 

You run up to her, and grab her arms, pulling her back. “Tess, there’s a ledge right outside of this window, but I need you coherent to do this okay? He’s dead. You can mourn when we get back. But for now, we need to go…” 

Tess nods slowly, and takes something out if her pocket. It was a Molotov. You take it from her shaking hands. 

“I’ll do it. Joel, make sure she doesn’t fall, okay?” He nods, and you take your old ass lighter from your pocket, the one your sister got you for your birthday before everything happened, and you light it up. 

Stepping through the window you see the door to the room open, five guys pile in, and look out you in shock. 

And that’s when you throw it. 

 

**ONE MONTH LATER**

 

“Fucking shit [Y/N]!” Joel curses loudly, and you shush him. 

“Please, this is the only bottle of alcohol I’ve managed to hide, and I would really like to drink some of it, bow quiet down!” You say, looking over Joel carefully for any more cuts and bruises. You grab a little at his beard and tug at the length. He bats your hand away lightly. “You need a trim.” 

He scoffs and runs a hand through it. “Yeah, been meanin’ to cut it for a while…” 

You smile. “Well, let’s get this leg patched up, and then we’ll get working on that beard, yeah?” You ask, and he nods. You look down at the bullet wound in his thigh and sigh. “It’s too high up, I can roll it up. You best take off your pants so I can clean it properly.” Joel hesitates for a moment. “Unless you rather I cut through your only good pain with my knife?” You pick up said instrument for good measure, and Joel shakes his head. 

“No, no, sorry.” He undoes his belt, and you help him lift up, off his butt, to get his pants out from under him. You throw them to the side and he sighs. “Gonna need to patch that God damned hole…” 

You smile fondly and shake your head at you clean the wound. You poke it a bit and look around, ignoring Joel’s groans in frustration, but sit back after a moment. “Give me your belt.”

You hold out your hand and he places it in your open palm. “What, gonna cut off the circulation?” He asks, and you shake your head. 

You thrust the belt in his direction, and say, “No, that’s what my belt’s for.” 

He looks at you with shock evident on his face, but takes the belt anyways. “Fuck, now this belt’s gonna have teeth marks… I really fuckin’ liked this belt…” 

You take off your own belt and places it underneath Joel’s bad leg, before bringing it up and tightening it. “Ah fuck that hurts,” Joel says. 

“That’s what the belt if for…” You take the oil lamp you were using, and take your pair of pliers, burning the ends to clean them of any bacteria or spores they may have picked up. You doubted they were, but you had to be sure. “Alright. This is gonna fuckin’ hurt. Be ready.” 

And as you stick the pliers in Joel's leg, he screams. It was pretty muffled by the belt, but not by a lot. You finally find the bullet, and rip it out, and clean up the blood with your alcoholic rag, making sure nothing got infected. Joel groans a few more times before the wound’s fully clean, and you finally remove the mask. 

You push his hair back out of his face, and grab his hand. He squeezes back, just panting. “I know, I’m sorry,” you say, and he looks up at you, tired. “But that’s the worst of it.”

He pulls you in for a hug, and you accept it, hugging him back. “Thank you, for helping me.” You smile and bury your face in the crook of his neck. He pulls your back, and frowns, before locking his thumb and swiping at something on your forehead. “You had a bit of dirt just there.” 

You reach up, and feel the spot he did that to, and look at him. “Since how long?” 

He shrugs. “Since this afternoon. You wiped your hand or your forehead.” 

“Huh,” is all you say. You put a hand on his cheek and say, “Well, let’s get you patched up, and them we can cut that beard, okay? You ask, and he nods. 

“Okay.” 

 

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

 

Another bullet wizzes past your head as you duck back into cover. “God fucking damnit!” You shout over the loud as fuck gunfire. You take the clip out and throw it away from you in frustration. “Joel!” 

He looks over at you, and you beckon him over. He quickly run to you, making sure nothing to get in the line of fire. “What is it?” He asks as he joins you. 

You hold up your empty gun. “Got any 9mm ammo?” 

He takes off his pack and looks through it for a moment before coming up with nothing. “Nope. But here, take my gun.” 

He shoves it over to you, and you grab it. “Are you sure?” You ask. 

He nods. “I’m gonna go 'round back and take a few of them out, give you an’ Tess some advantage. I’ll find another gun.” 

You nod, and turn back to shot, but stop and think for a moment, grabbing Joel arm. He turns expectantly, but you realise you don’t have anything to say to him. You wanted to  _ do _ a million things, but you couldn’t figure out how to put it to words. 

You frown, before looking back, and just say a simple, “Be safe out there.” 

He nods, and you watch as Joel slips around a corner and disappears out of sight. You shoot another guy in the head and look around before ducking into cover again. Tess looks over at you, and nods. You both pop up, and shoot two guys in front of you in the head, while the last guy goes down in a heap. Joel pops up, and you vault over the crate you were using as cover. You rush over to the closed garage-like door, and you and Joel bend over to hoist it up. Tess slips through, and holds it open for the two of you to duck under. 

“Come on. We gotta be quick,” Tess says, and you nod, going for every bit of medical supplies you could get your hands on. It wasn’t much, there weren’t any antibiotics, but you found a few medkits here and there, and the iodine was always helpful. Stuffing them into your bag, you put it back on, and look at the other two. 

“You ready?” You ask, and Joel nods. 

“Yeah. Tess?” He asks, but she ignores him, just trying to fit everything she can in her pack. “Tess, come on, we gotta get out of here!” 

She holds up a hand for him to stop, and Joel huffs. “Come on Tess, we need to go.” 

“I can still get some more…” She says, stuffing even more into her pack. 

Joel walks over and grabs her wrist, getting her to stop. “Tess. We. Need. To. Go.” 

Se rips her hand out of his grasp, and she mumbles under her breath, something you couldn’t understand. She zips up as much as she can, and slings the backpack over her shoulder, the pack threatening to tear at the seams. 

“Alright, let’s go,” you say and you and Joel run over to the door. Lifting it up, Tess goes underneath, holding it again, and you both slip though. Running from underneath the second story, you hear a bullet go off, and everyone ducks. You look behind you, and lock eyes with a man. 

He was tall, with long, greasy, brown hair, and a wicked smile composing of yellow and brown teeth. His equally brown eyes were malicious and filled with the hatred of a thousand men. This was Greg Foust, the leader of the Alabasters. 

“Come on [Y/N], we need to go,” Joel says, tugging your arm. You shake yourself from your reprieve, and you turn tail, and run. 

 

**THREE WEEKS LATER**

 

“Can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone before?” You ask Joel, who was laying on the ground next to you, also watching the stars. 

“Yeah sure, go fer it,” he says, and you let out a deep breath. 

You look over at him, and just watch his face as you speak. “A few months before we met, I was seriously considering ending it all…” You say, trailing off. Joel looks over to you quizzically, and you sit up on the comfy blanket. “I didn’t know what to do. My sister was dead, I was alone, and surviving for six straight years, alone, with no one, can make you go crazy. I… I-I tried.” 

Joel grabs your hand and you squeeze it, but you don’t look him in the eyes. “What happened?” 

You shrug. “I missed. I missed every vital organ in my body, save for a kidney. But the kidney didn’t puncture. It was just a small incision in the outermost layer.” You sigh and put your head in your hands. “I was too scared to stop my hands from shaking, and so I missed my target.” You take off your shirt, and reveal your scar. Joel raises his hands, and you nod, letting him touch the raised scar. He sucks in a breath and you put your hand on top of his. His other hand comes up to the other side of your stomach, and just sits there. You stare at it for a moment, before looking up at Joel. 

“Nothing is your fault,” Joel says. 

You shake your head and look away. “You don’t know that.” 

Joel moves the free hand to your cheek and forces you to look at him. He rubs his thumb up and down your cheek, and you close your eyes, leaning into it. “No, I do. You’re a good person [Y/N].” 

You sigh and open your eyes, looking at him. “I’ve killed hundreds of people.” 

“Just because someone’s done bad things doesn’t mean they aren’t a good person.” You turn your head and laugh into his palm. 

And that's when Joel pulled you in, and kissed you. 

It wasn't a short kiss, but it couldn’t be classified as a long kiss either. It was just… a kiss. Nothing more than that. No moving, no tongues, nothing. Just a kiss. And you didn’t know how you felt. 

You pull away, and look everywhere but Joel’s eyes. “I’m really tired, I should sleep…” 

Joel nods, and pulls away. You grab your shirt and put it on, grab your blanket, and go back inside, with the kiss still lingering in your lips. 

 

**ONE WEEK LATER**

 

“[Y/N], please, we need to talk!” Joel says, following you out of the building and onto the roof. It was the only roof in the quarantine zone that wasn’t being looked at, because you couldn’t really escape from the top of this building. 

You stop walking, and turn on Joel suddenly. “What’s there to talk about? This is a shitty fuckin’ idea, and it should have never been brought up!” 

Joel sighs and moves to grab you hand, but you back away, shaking your head. “Please.”

“Why are you pushing this? This is the zombie fuckin, apocolypse. When you get close to someone, they will always let you down, or they will die. That’s just how it is.” Joel looks at you sadly, and grabs your hand. You jump, and look away, but you leave your hand in his. 

“I don’t care. I spent so long hating myself for what happened to Sarah, I didn’t let myself get close to anyone. And then I met you, and you helped me trust again.” You look up at Joel, who’s smiling. “Just, trust me, okay?” 

You nod, and he kisses you. 

 

**FOUR MONTHS LATER**

 

You smile as Joel kisses you, pressing you up against the wall. Joel was also smiling into the kiss. He puts his hands underneath your shirt, and feel your stomach and torso. You laugh as his hands brush your sides, and you bring your hands up and run your fingers through his short, yet shaggy hair. 

“Joel, please, I need to finish cutting your hair…” You say, but as soon, as Joel’s lips start kissing down your jaw and neck, you feel your legs turn into jelly. You pulls away, and grab Joel’s hand. Closing the curtains to the living room as you go into the kitchen. You jump up onto the counter, and pull Joel close, kissing him as he situates himself between your legs. His hands find your hips, and you smile into the kiss. 

He moves his lips down to your neck again, and you put your hands in his hair. “If we ever get out of here, and we get a house, I want a house with marble countertops.”

Joel stops and looks up at you, with a curious smile on his face. “Really?” He asks. 

You nod. “Yeah, my ma said, ‘If you ever find a nice girl, get her anouse with marble coutertops’.”

Joel laughs and kisses you. “Well, I think you can only do one of those things…” 

You laugh along with him, and ask, “What kind of floors do you think would go with the marble?” 

Joel thinks for a moment, but smiles when you kiss his cheek. “Maybe darker floors?” 

You smile and kiss him again. 

 

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

 

“I think we make a pretty good team,” you say, holding up your hand for Joel. He smiles and gives you a high five as you survey your surroundings. 

There were bodies strewn about the area, blood around their bodies, and on the boxes. Joel walks over to you, ad comes up behind you. “I’m going to check out inside. You okay to check out here?” 

You nod, you start poking around, rifling through pockets, finding ammo, and a multitude of parts and supplies to bring back with you. 

You hear shouting, a scuffle, and Joel scream. 

“Joel!” You call out, before there's a pain in the back of your head, and the world goes dark. 

 

**PRESENT DAY**

 

You scream out from behind the large hand, and watch as a body slumps to the ground. The hand is immediately released from your mouth and the guy goes over to check on Greg, when he gets a bullet to the head as well. The blood splatters over you, and you recoil from it, feeling it hit your face. 

Joel gets up and runs over to you. “God damn it [Y/N]! Please be okay, tell me you’re okay!” He shouts and you nod slowly, just staring at the two dead bodies. 

“I’ve killed hundreds of guys. I don’t know why I can’t handle this one…” You mumble out at the bodies. Joel undoes your ropes, and he helps you stand up. You step on your left foot and wince. 

“You okay?” He asks. 

You nod. “Yeah, it’s just my ankle. I’ll be fine.”

“You think it’s a break?” He asks and you shake your head. 

“Nah. Just a sprain. I’ll be fine.” 

Joel nods, and puts his arm underneath your arms, and he helps you take a couple of steps, before your weight takes you down to the floor. 

Joel follows and helps cushion your fall, but you still hit the floor pretty hard. “[Y/N]? [Y/N], please stay with me! Please! What’s wrong?” 

You smile at him, and unclasp the hand that wasn’t on your stomach, and touch his cheek. “You know, in the zombie fuckin’ apacolypse, who woulda thought I would he killed by fuckin’ humans?” You ask. 

“What, what are your talkin’ 'bout?” Joel asks. 

You lift you hand, and let him see the blood that was slowly starting to spread around your shirt, and the deep red blood that was staining your hand. “He must’ve got when you shot Greg…” He grabs the bloody hand tight. 

“No, no please [Y/N]. Please. You can’t leave me too,” Joel begs, and you smile up at him, rubbing your thumb against his bearded cheek. 

You bring him down for a kiss, but stop short a few inches. “You know you wouldn’t be able to take care of me. The bullet was clean. I’ve lost a lot of blood, you can’t sew to save your life, the army can't find out what happened, and you don’t have any meds, penicillin or otherwise. It’s better to let me die than to let me suffer, right?” That’s when you bring him down for the kiss. His beard was scratchy against yours, but it was familiar. The kiss itself was sweet, but you could feel Joel’s longing to never let you go. You pull back, and Joel leans in quick one last time, giving you a quick kiss, which you savoured. 

You feel your eyes start to unfocus, and you look over Joel’s shoulder, unable to just look at his face. “No, please, not yet,” Joel begs. The tears that were now falling down his face are what bring you back to him. 

You smile again and wipe away the tears from his eyes, and on his cheeks. “Oh don’t cry yet, I’m not gone yet technically. Save those for when I’m gone, okay?” You joke, and Joel laughs stiffly, nodding. “Oh, and drink that bottle of whiskey in the apartment for me when you get back yeah? I was saving it for something special, but I think this is no better occasion than any, yeah?” 

Joel nods, and kisses you one last time. “I love you,” he manages to say, and you smile up at him. 

“I love you too,” you reply. “I want you to remember one thing, okay?” Joel nods, and your hand drops to your side, your body unable to hold it up anymore. “White marble countertops, and dark floors...” 

And the world goes black. 

**Author's Note:**

> And... That's it. I'm sorry if you were expecting someone else, or more build up, i just got bored writing, and figured tat if I got bored, the reader would too... Oh well. I also didn't really edit this, I just wanted to get this out, so if there are any mistakes, sorry? I don't really know what to say... Thank you all so much for reading, I love each and every one of you, even if I don't know who you are. You even clicking on this story means the world to me. THank you, from the bottom of my heart <3


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